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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29571075">Apologies</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/jatpfan/pseuds/jatpfan'>jatpfan</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>One Day at a Time (TV 2017)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alex Alvarez is a good brother, Child Abuse, Elena Alvarez is a good sister, Gen, Homophobia, Physical Abuse, Protective Penelope Alvarez, Protective Schneider, Verbal Abuse, Victor Alvarez is a horrible parent, and person, but it's brief, im sorry I cant forgive him</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 22:48:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,685</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29571075</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/jatpfan/pseuds/jatpfan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After Elena's quinces, Victor shows up at their apartment, drunk. It doesn't end well.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>68</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Apologies</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Heed the tags!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Okay, so what exactly does this mean? Are you a woman now?”</p>
<p>Elena snorted at her brother’s question. The two of them were camped out in the kitchen, sharing some sparkling water: the good kind that they only broke out on special occasions. Alex had already changed from his suit into a pair of pajamas, but she had yet to bring herself to change out of her own, even when they were the only ones still up.</p>
<p>“No, Alex, a <em>quinces</em> does not automatically make me a woman,” she said, “Besides, I already became a woman a few years back when-“</p>
<p>“Okay, okay, okay. I get it,” her little brother held his hands over his ears, a grimace on his face, but his eyes were alight with humor, “I don’t need to her about my sister’s womanhood.”</p>
<p>She smirked at him and kicked his leg underneath the table. She took another sip of her drink, finishing her glass, and then moved to stand up.</p>
<p>“It’s late, and if Mami catches us up this late, we’re toast,” she said, “Besides, we-“</p>
<p>
  <em>Knock. Knock. Knock.</em>
</p>
<p>She froze, eyebrows furrowing. Her eyes flicked up at the door to the living room, where Schneider had passed out on the couch after they had returned to their apartment to finish celebrating. Her eyes glanced at the time. 12:14.</p>
<p>Who was knocking on their door after midnight?</p>
<p>When neither of them moved to open the door, a series of knocks occurred again.</p>
<p>“Should we wake Mami?” Elena asked.</p>
<p>“She might actually kill us if we wake her now,” Alex said, shaking his head. He pushed himself up from the table, “I’ll look through the peephole and see if we know them. Maybe it’s someone from the party?”</p>
<p>She hummed in agreement and followed the twelve-year-old out into the living room, putting a finger to her lips and pointing at Schneider, spread out on the couch in his now-wrinkled suit. They had taken his shoes off, but none of them had been able to get him up to get changed, let alone go back to his apartment.</p>
<p>Alex gave a short nod and approached the door. He stood on his toes, still too short to properly look out, before letting a strangled noise out of his lips.</p>
<p>“It’s dad.”</p>
<p>“What?” she demanded. She quickly moved forward, pushing him out of the way so that she could see.</p>
<p>Sure enough, Alex was right. Victor was standing on the other end of the door, looking like an absolute mess. His suit was messy and there were tear stains on his cheeks. He raised his hand to knock on the door again, and Elena could feel the vibrations through the door. In his other hand, he held a beer bottle.</p>
<p>“What is he doing here?” she whispered to Alex.</p>
<p>“I don’t know!” Alex exclaimed.</p>
<p>“I can hear you guys in there,” Victor called through the door. There was a definite slur to his voice, reminding Elena starkly of the times when she was younger and he would come home drunk, and her Mami would send her to her room in hopes that she wouldn’t see, “I just want to apologize.”</p>
<p>Elena’s hand hovered over the doorknob. She was torn. Part of her wanted to shout out him to go away, that she never wanted to see him again, because he had just <em>abandoned</em> her, but another part of her yearned for her Papi, for him to apologize and accept her and hold her in his arms.</p>
<p>“Elena…” Alex whispered. She glanced at him. She could see the conflict in his eyes, and she distinctly remembered how excited he had been to see their father.</p>
<p>He wanted to apologize. She could at least hear him out.</p>
<p>Finally making up her mind, she unlocked the door and swung the door open. The moment her father was in view, she had her finger pointed at him, a glare on her face.</p>
<p>“Make it quick,” she said, “And be quiet. Schneider’s sleeping.”</p>
<p>His eyes trailed behind her, noting the slumbering man, and his expression seemed to sour before turning back on her. He stumbled into the apartment, a strained smile slowly appearing on his face.</p>
<p>“Thank you, baby girl,” Victor said. He held up his hands to cup her cheeks, but one hand was still wrapped around the bottle in his hands, and she backed up.</p>
<p>“You’re drunk,” she said.</p>
<p>He frowned, “I’m sorry for leaving. I just… I couldn’t watch you do that. Parade around in that… that outfit.”</p>
<p>He gestured vaguely at the suit that she still wore. She glanced down at it, feeling suddenly self-conscious.</p>
<p>“What about it?” she asked, looking back up at him, “Abuelita made it for me. I love it.”</p>
<p>He scoffed, turning his head as if looking at people who weren’t there for approval. His eyes landed on Alex, almost pleading for him to come to his defense, but the boy stood to the side, watching with quiet, confused eyes.</p>
<p>“Hija, you don’t need to… to parade it around,” he said, gesturing blindly with the bottle. He took a step towards her. She took a step back, “You’re just confused! And your Mami and Abuelita aren’t helping things, obviously.”</p>
<p>“What are you talking about?” Alex asked, taking a tentative step forward, “Confused about what?”</p>
<p>“She’s not gay, Alex,” their father almost shouted, turning to the boy with half-lidden eyes, swaying on his feet. He took a deep breath, as if calming himself down, and turned back to Elena, “Hija, there were a lot of kids at your quinces, including your brother. You don’t need to be pushing <em>this</em> down their throat. I shouldn’t have left, but… can you really blame me? There’s something wrong with you.”</p>
<p>Elena was quiet, staring at the man in front of her with wide eyes. She wanted to shout. She wanted to storm off and get her Mami and never see him again. But she couldn’t move.</p>
<p>Instead, Alex stepped forward again, slipping in between the two of them. He stared Victor down, arms crossed over his chest defensively.</p>
<p>“I think you should leave, Papi,” he said. There was an anger in his voice that she had never heard before, low and tight, “There’s nothing wrong with Elena just because she likes girls, but there’s definitely something wrong with you for… this!”</p>
<p>Victor let out a frustrated huff. He reached a hand out, shoving Alex out of the way so that he could look at her. Elena watched as her brother stumbled to the side, and she could feel her anger starting to rise.</p>
<p>“What’s going on?” Schneider mumbled from the couch, blinking up at them with bleary eyes, “Is the party still going?”</p>
<p>No one responded to him.</p>
<p>“Do you see this, Elena? You’re confusing your <em>hermano</em>! He’s twelve! He doesn’t need this-“</p>
<p>“Papi!” Alex shouted. He grabbed his father’s arm, interrupting his angry rant.</p>
<p>Before she could stop it, her father let out a shout, jerked out of his grip, and let his arm fly. In one smooth motion, the botte flew from his grip and shattered on the wall behind Alex, just missing the curtain, and the back of his hand connected with her brother’s cheek in the follow-through. The force behind it was loud enough to form an audible smack and knock Alex off his feet. He went down hard, arms flying down to catch himself.</p>
<p>It happened quickly. Elena finally broke from her trance to quickly drop down beside her brother as Schneider leaped from the couch, suddenly fully awake and jumping into action at the sight of Victor’s drunken attack. She just barely caught sight in the corner of her eye as he launched himself at her Papi shoved him up against the wall, pinning him there and away from them.</p>
<p>Frantic footsteps and shouting came from down the hall as their Mami entered, and the curtains from Abuelita’s room jerked open.</p>
<p>Her focus zeroed in on Alex. He was stunned, one hand on the ground and the other clutching his cheek. His wide eyes stared at Victor, and she was suddenly aware that he was trembling. She grasped his shoulders and pulled him closer to her.</p>
<p>“What happened?” Penelope demanded as she stormed in, “Victor? What?”</p>
<p>“Ay! Dios Mio,” Lydia was moving towards them quickly, “Mi Papito pobrecito! Are you okay?”</p>
<p>“Don’t you freaking touch these kids, you bastard!” Schneider shouted into Victor’s face.</p>
<p>Elena backed away enough for her abuelita to fuss over Alex. Her ears became acutely tuned in to the sounds of her father.</p>
<p>“I-I’m sorry. Hijo, I didn’t mean to. It was an accident.”</p>
<p>“Get out,” she said, pushing herself to her feet. She glared at the man who had gone limp in Schneider’s arms, not even fighting him, “I never want to see you again!”</p>
<p>She could practically hear the gears turning in her mother’s head, and she could hear it click as to what happened.</p>
<p>“You hurt my baby?” Penelope said, voice low and dangerous and reminding Elena every bit of the army woman she was. She watched as her mother stepped forward, “You abandon your daughter and then you show up at our house at midnight and lay your hands on your son? And I bet when I find out what you did before that, I’m not going to be too happy either, am I?”</p>
<p>Elena backed up, letting her Mami take control of the situation. She wasn’t about to step in now. Not when her Mami was here to fix it.</p>
<p>“Mami, get the kids out of here?” Penelope said, voice deathly calm.</p>
<p>“Ay, of course,” Lydia said. She was glaring at Victor. It was hard to believe that this was the same woman who, just a few nights prior, had been trying to convince their mother to get back together with him.</p>
<p>Elena didn’t have the energy to protest as her abuelita grabbed her arm and guided her and Alex to the back, into her bedroom. Her body was shaking, hands trembling, and her cheeks were damp with tears that she hadn’t realized she had let loose. The moment the door closed, shutting them off from Victor, she couldn’t stop the sob from leaving her lips.</p>
<p>She crumpled onto her bed and buried her head in her hands. Her shoulders shook as she tried to stave off more sobs, but it was fruitless.</p>
<p>“Ay, mi hija. Tu Mami will sort this out,” Lydia said. She sat down on the bed beside her, one frail arm wrapping around her shoulders to pull her forward, “Lo siento. He will not hurt you again.”</p>
<p>Why had she opened that door? Why had she just stood there? She blinked open her eyes, vision blurry with tears, and could see her brother sitting on the opposite end of their abuelita. His cheek was red, the beginnings of what she knew would become an angry bruise. It screamed at her accusingly.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” she whispered into her abuelita’s arm.</p>
<p>“Do not be sorry, chica. You did nothing wrong,” Lydia whispered into her ear, “And you, Papito. Once the situation is settled, I will get you some <em>Chícharoes.”</em></p>
<p>Alex didn’t respond, but when she looked up, she saw him nod briefly and lean into abuelita.</p>
<p>There were tears on his face. Just a blank expression and a trembling body.</p>
<p>He was <em>twelve</em>. And she had let their father hit him.</p>
<p>She reached over and grabbed his hand, squeezing it. He looked up at her, eyes shining with unshed tears.</p>
<p>“I’m so sorry, Alex.”</p>
<p>As if those words broke a dam, he suddenly flew forward over abuelita’s lap and into her arms. His face buried into her shoulder, uninjured cheek pressing against her suit, and she could feel the material grow damp and wet.</p>
<p>“Don’t apologize, Elena,” he mumbled, voice barely audible, “That’s Papi’s job.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I don’t want anymore apologies from him,” she mumbled back. Her face was buried in his hair, her fingers clutching onto the material of his pajama’s shirt.</p>
<p>Dimly, she could hear her mother ripping into him from the living room. She chose to block it out. She didn’t want to think about what had just happened. She wanted to forget that her father had shown up drunk at their apartment after abandoning her at her quinces. That his attempt at an apology was a conglomeration of accusations and betrayal. That he had struck Alex, his twelve-year-old son, and left a broken beer bottle all over their floor.</p>
<p>Her <em>father</em>. The same one who had bought them that PlayStation, who had donated money under her name, who had <em>raised</em> her. Her <em>Papi</em>.</p>
<p>All because she liked girls.</p>
<p>It felt like forever, the three of them seated on her bed, curled up into each other, before the door slowly opened.</p>
<p>Elena looked up as her mother stepped into the room. She was still dressed in her pajamas, and there were tear tracks slicing down her cheeks. Her skin was pale, as if she had just woken from a nightmare, and her eyes landed on Elena and Alex immediately.</p>
<p>“Schneider’s handling it,” she said, her voice soft and careful, “Are you two okay?”</p>
<p>Elena sniffed and smeared tears across her cheek. She gave a short nod.</p>
<p>“He hit Alex.”</p>
<p>“Ay, yo sé,” Penelope said, moving towards them. She knelt in front of the bed, one hand grasping Elena’s hand, the other coming up to gently cup Alex’s injured cheek, “Lo siento. I never wanted this to happen. I always… I always worked so hard to keep you from him when he got like this.”</p>
<p>“He got like this before?” Alex’s voice was thin and wobbly.</p>
<p>Penelope hesitated. She looked away briefly before sighing.</p>
<p>“When your father gets drunk, he’s a different person. He’s violent. He’s dangerous. He does things he would do otherwise. But,” she held up a hand as Alex moved to speak, “That isn’t an excuse for what happened here. He <em>hit</em> you. He <em>abandoned</em> Elena. He hurt both of you. That’s not okay, and I’m so sorry that this happened. It won’t happen again. I promise.”</p>
<p>Lydia shifted out of the grasp, patting Alex on the knee.</p>
<p>“I will get some <em>chícharoes</em> for you, Papito. For your cheek,” she said, “And then we will get cleaned up and into bed. It is late, and you have had a long day.”</p>
<p>“It is late,” Penelope said, nodding, “But if you don’t mind, I think we’ll have a slumber party in here tonight. What do you say?”</p>
<p>Any other night, Elena would refuse. She would say she needed her privacy, that she was much too old to sleep with her mom. Any other night, she knew that Alex would do the same, that he would say he didn’t want to sleep in his sister’s room.</p>
<p>But instead, neither complained.</p>
<p>“That sounds nice,” Elena said. She slid off of her bed, glancing down at her suit. The stupid suit that had caused all of this… and had been such a source of joy, “I’m going to get changed. And get a shower.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>When she got back to the room after her shower and in a fresh pair of pajamas, her Mami was laying down on the floor in front of her bed, wide awake. She clutched Alex’s hand, which hung loosely over the side of the bed as he slept. Her abuelita sat on the bed beside him, the bag of peas gently pressed against his cheek.</p>
<p>She slid onto the bed beside Alex, by her brave little brother who stood up to their father.</p>
<p>When her father had abandoned her, she had been sad. No, she had been crushed. But there was a part of her who was still desperate for her father’s approval. She wanted him to apologize. It was why she had opened that door.</p>
<p>But now… he had done more than just abandon her, more than just tell her that she was wrong for being herself. He’d hurt more than just her.</p>
<p>There was no forgiveness coming out of this one.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Whoops, I just couldn't help writing this. Honestly, I know that Elena and Victor made up in the show, but I just can't find it in me to forgive him. So of course I made it worse. Oops. <br/>Leave a comment and let me know what you thought!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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